Paul Farmer is viewed as a successful medical anthropologist and physician. Dr. Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution of healthcare and outcome of infectious diseases. ("Paul Farmer, MD, PhD."). He has not only been an author of several books about his experiences, but he has also done many interviews and speeches that share his work with the world. Further, he gets his message out by being a co-founder of Partners in Health, known as PIH. “Partners in Health is driven to bring the benefits of modern medicine to those most in need and work to alleviate the crushing economic and social burdens of poverty that exacerbate disease.” ("Partners In Health.").
In both in his writing and in his videos, challenging goals motivate Paul Farmer, as he asks others to help out as much as possible. These videos show great examples of how much of an impact he has on the Haitian people and the society as a whole. Farmer has principles of providing universal access to primary health care, creating a well trained community for providing health care, and fighting against poverty to improve access to food, shelter, clean water, and sanitation. It is simply incredible to witness the great work of a man on a journey, as he hopes to share his stories with the world, so that others can realize what is actually happening outside of their borders. These captivating videos of Farmers extensive amounts of work across the globe inspires people to want to do more to support the cause. Dr. Farmer’s main and predominant goal is to innovate primary health care and make it available to everyone in need. He is doing this by working with the people of several different countries, and communicating with the governments to see what can be accomplished to help make this belief become a reality. This is the message that Farmer has devoted his whole life from the individual patient to the greatest politicians in the world. Paul Farmer is partnering with local and national governments to play a valuable role in developing new approaches to treating disease. Successful representations can only be made available widely through national health systems. To help meet this goal, PIH strengthens and complements existing public health infrastructure.
Another way PIH and Paul Farmer plan to bring this idea to life is to make health care and education free to the poor. According to “Partners In Health”, “when clinics charge user fees in poor communities, people don’t seek access to health care. Health and education are fundamental routes to development and it is counterproductive and immoral to charge user fees to those who need these services most and can afford them least.” This statement is very true in these deprived countries of poverty, as people are often scared away from seeking help if they don’t have the financial support to get proper healthcare. Farmer believes that having accessible universal health care is the single most important factor into turning these countries around and pointed in the right direction. Another of Dr. Paul Farmer’s principles, is to not only provide this healthcare to the people and the facilities to give them the care, but to properly inform the uneducated about these illnesses and how to take care of them. These health programs and organizations are designed to involve community members at all levels of purpose and performance. PIH strives to hire and train community health workers (CHWs) to provide health education, refer the ill to clinics, and deliver medication and community support to patients in their homes. CHWs do not replace the work of doctors or nurses, but they are a crucial bridge between the community and the clinics. (“Partners In Health”) A doctor can’t work without electricity and energy no matter where the clinic or hospital is in the world. Even with those capabilities, doctors can’t perform
